Third Time's a Charm
by notashamed
Summary: Over 16 years have passed since the finding of the Cibola treasure. Ben and Abigail are now parents of teenage twins Thomas and Charlotte. When evidence of Atlantis is found, Tom jumps at the chance of a life time. But can the same be said of Charlotte?
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in this story.

Chapter 1

"Hey, aren't you Ben Gates' daughter?" a starchy gentlemen asked.

16-year-old Charlotte Gates sighed, "Unfortunately," she mumbled under her breath, "Um, I mean yes."

"It's very good to meet you," he offered the hand not holding his champagne glass. Charlotte shook it reluctantly.

"You must be very proud of him," the man added, referring back to her father. Charlotte plastered a cheesy smile on her face, "Yes, I am."

"Have you seen the sights?" the man asked, sipping his drink. Charlotte groaned inwardly, he wasn't about to leave.

"Yes, several times," she replied, "_You'd think that after seventeen years, people would stop asking these questions_."

"What were they like?" he suddenly became interested.

"Lots of gold, museums, and security guards," she said dryly.

"Oh. You must get to travel a lot, your father being so famous and all," he said, changing the subject.

"Yes, I suppose you could say that."

He paused, "So what exactly is the history of the Knight's Templar?"

The dreaded history questions. "Well…" Charlotte saw her brother Thomas out of the corner of her eye, and began to cough loudly.

"Charlotte! There you are!" Thomas was suddenly by her side, "Are you alright? Perhaps you'd better sit down,"

"No! I'm alright," she said, playing along, "I think I'll just go get some water. It was nice to meet you, Mr…."

"Jones. And it was my pleasure." He strolled away to go speak with some more history fanatics. Charlotte made her way over to the punch table, Thomas by her side.

"why, why, why?" Charlotte mumbled.

"Why as in…?"

"Why does my father have to be one of the most famous treasure hunter when I am not interested one bit in history?"

"So that you could get to go to all of these lovely parties," Tom said sarcastically. "I don't think there is a single person that is not at least fifteen years older than us at this thing!"

"Charlotte! Thomas! How wonderful to see you!" A shrill voice behind them said.

"You spoke to soon," Charlotte grumbled through clenched teeth, she once again pasted a smile on her face. "Edith, how are you?"

"Oh I'm fantastic! Did you see my father's new show on the history channel? Its called _Discovering America_,"

"Oh that's original," Thomas mumbled. He stepped forward and kissed the top of Edith's hand. Sometimes Charlotte was jealous at how civilized her brother could act at parties.

"And what's even better is that daddy said that I get to guest star in one of the episodes pretty soon!0"

"Oh that's great Edith. I bet you're very excited," Charlotte said, counting the seconds until she left, which considering how scatterbrained Edith was, was going to be pretty soon.

As if reading her thoughts, Edith's face lit up, "Oh look there's the president, My dad wants me to ask him something, I'll be right back,"

As soon as she was gone Tom and Charlotte exchanged glances. "Run!" they said in unison. They had to the edge off the garden and sat by a fountain.

"How much longer? My iPod died an hour ago," Charlotte groaned.

"We could just take the car and go home," Tom said mischievously.

"No, remember last time we did that?"

"Of course, it was last week," Suddenly they heard the sound of a car behind them. They turned to see a dark blue Porsche, pull up. The tinted window came down.

"Bored out of your minds yet?" The president's daughter asked from the passenger seat. They all laughed and Charlotte and Tom hopped in the back.

"When did you get back from Russia?"

"Yesterday. We came home early because the president's daughter got sick."

"Oh, lovely."

Katherine turned around to face them, "Where are we going? Your house or mine?"

"Yours is a little bit easier to access right now without having alarms go off in your face. Dad refuses to give us the code." Tom pointed out.

"Of course, we could always call Riley, but that takes too long." Charlotte added.

"My house it is then."

A while later they pulled in to a private entrance at the White House. Katherine led the way through the winding corridors.

"I'm going to change," she said, stopping at her private suite, "Charlotte, you want to borrow some clothes?"

Charlotte nodded readily.

"I'll meet you guys down at the bowling alley," Tom said as they disappeared in to the room.

"I can't believe Felix let you skip the party," Charlotte commented as they slipped in to designer jeans and t-shirts.

"Yeah, but personally, I think he's almost as tired of them as I am." Katherine brushed through her hair quickly and swept it up in to a pony.

The girls threw their dresses aside and hurried down to the boiling alley in bare feet. Tom had already started a game when they got there. Several strikes later, both Tom and Charlotte's cell phones rang simultaneously. The twin siblings cringed.

"Hello?" Charlotte picked up hers first.

"Where are you guys?" her mom's Saxon/German accent came over the phone.

"At Kat's…bowling."

"Again?"

"Yes."

Abigail sighed, "Finish up your game. We'll be over there in a few minutes."

Charlotte flipped her phone shut, "Mom and Dad are coming. We're supposed to finish up quickly." She said, turning to Tom. He glanced at the time on his phone.

"One o'clock. Not too late, I guess. We would have been waiting there for another four hours if we would've stayed."

Kat scoffed, "Who are you to complain? You're not one of the president's kids,"

"True," Charlotte said.

Tom sighed, "Fine you win," We finished up the game, Kat beat us, as usual.

"Tom! Lotte! You're parents are here!" They heard a deep British voice call.

"Thanks Felix!" They grabbed their stuff and said good-bye to Kat.

"See you….whenever," Kat yelled as they left.

They got in the car with a minor, heartless scolding from their mother and slowly made their way home. The lights were on inside as they pulled up to their large spacious mansion. Concern was not evident in Ben's face as he strolled up to the door and let himself in with the key.

"Riley?" he called, his voice almost echoing in the large foyer. He made his way down the hall past the living and dinning areas, through the kitchen, towards the back end of the house where the family room was. Through the double glass doors, Ben could see Riley lounged on the sofa, a full bowl of popcorn in his lap. A new horror flick was playing on the big screen TV, and evidently at one of the most intense parts. Ben plowed through the double doors and Riley jumped five feet in the air, screaming like a girl.

"Ben! What are you doing here--it's your house. Right," panting, he paused the movie and glanced at his watch, "You're early. It's only one-thirty."

"Sorry to interrupt you. What are _you_ doing here?"

The rest of the family appeared behind Ben, slightly amused at the scene before them.

"I was bored. My TV's too small," he said simply, "Actually, I got back that analysis from that one guy in Africa…I thought you might want to take a look at it."

"And you couldn't fax or e-mail it over…why?"

"I already told you. I was bored and I like your house. And the security is a lot easier to bypass than at Buckingham," he got up from the couch and set down the bowl of popcorn, now cold, "Hey kids."

"Hi," Charlotte and Thomas said at once, trying to contain their smiles.

"I suppose you don't have room for me to spend the night in this gigantor house of yours?" He went on.

"What is this…a slumber party?" Abigail asked, one eyebrow raised.

Ben cut her off, "Yes. You can have your normal room."

Riley grinned, "Great! I'll go show you that stuff now."

Ben, Riley, and Thomas headed out of the room and towards the huge office further down. Charlotte rolled her eyes and turned to her mother, "Men and their treasure hunts," she groaned.

Abigail gave her a reproachful look and replied, "Sometimes I wonder if you're really our daughter," with that she turned, heels clicking, to follow her husband.

Charlotte sighed. Most days, she'd give anything to be a normal kid whose parents had normal jobs. Minus her friendship with Kat, there was hardly anything she enjoyed about being rich and somewhat famous. Yeah, the new gaming systems were cool, but she wondered what life would be like without all that. If she was a simple girl who went to school, chatted online with friends, and went camping on the weekends….not one who knew the Declaration of Independence backwards and forwards, and spent her spare time trekking through historical sites. It was too bad money couldn't buy what she wanted most.

But there was nothing she could do about it. So she flopped down on the leather sofa and pressed play to watch the rest of the movie.

In Ben's large office, that was decorated with antique's from all over the globe, the rest of the family was gathered around Riley's laptop.

"So what did Elliot find?" Ben asked.

Riley shrugged, "It's some old document, is anyone surprised, but its written some random language I don't know?"

"How old is it?" Abigail asked.

"I don't know, isn't that your job?" Riley asked, "Anyway it doesn't really help us as we don't know what it says,"

Ben scrolled down to the bottom of the document and clicked on the "translate" button. The text came up in English.

"What about your job?" He asked with a smirk. He started skimming the document.

"So have you finally found something worth tracking as Elliot said you would?" Riley asked sarcastically

"Possibly," Ben's face was skeptical.

Riley started to also scan the document eagerly at those words.

"What is it this time dad?" Tom asked, sounding bored, but inside is was bursting at the prospect of actually being with his father while he searched for treasure.

Ben grinned looking more confident. "Evidence of Atlantis,"


	2. Chapter 2

--Sorry I took so long to update. I had it all ready and then realized that my dates were way off so I had to basically change the story line!

Disclaimer; I don't own any of these characters...no matter how much I wish I did!

--

Ben read the document thoroughly. Elliot had contacted him several months ago saying that he was on to something big. The last decade and a half he had been reluctant to get in to something like Cibola or the Knights Templar. Not with two kids in tow. But now they were definitely old enough and Tom, at least, was eager for an adventure. His wife however was very skeptical.

"Ben wasn't that just supposed to be an illustration that someone used…"

"Plato," both Ben and Tom interrupted.

"Yes, Plato. But that was all bogus. He made it up. It's a total myth."

"Did he?" Riley turned to Abigail eyebrows raised, "You know this is starting to sound familiar. Was it not you who said the same about the President's super secret…"

A sharp elbow jab from Ben silenced Riley. Thomas eyed both of them suspiciously, "The President's what?" he asked.

"Nothing…" Ben turned back to the computer screen and silently read a note Elliot had attached to the bottom, "He says one of the digs he was in charge of found the parchment at a site in Thebes. The site was under speculation having at one point been the home of Plato's great-great nephew the great grandson of Speusippus. It's a miracle the parchment even survived this long, someone must have known that it was valuable, Elliot thinks that it is from around 400 BC,"

"And Plato lived when?" Abigail asked.

"427-347 B.C….somewhere in there," Thomas replied. He didn't catch the proud look on his dad's face as he said it.

"Well I suppose it's definitely worth checking out then," Abigail went on, "What do we know about it? What does it say first of all?"

"The translation is a little sketchy since the ink is so faded. They are running some tests to try and read the rest. They know was written by Plato to Speusippus. They were also able to make out Atlantis, obviously, and of course the word clue. That has to be in there someplace doesn't it? Old Plato is not just going to give us the answer" Riley replied.

"Speusippus?" Abigail leaned closer.

"Yeah, no kidding," Riley said sarcastically, "Well at that point Plato had probably decided to leave the academe to his Nephew. So who else would he leave it with since he wasn't married or anything?"

A look of surprise crossed Ben's face as his friend explained, "You've been brushing up on your history, Riley," he said with a grin.

"Yeah well I figured I might as well. My wall of gold bricks is starting to slowly dwindle."

Ben laughed, then got up and began to pace. "Well that would work,"

"What?" they all asked at once.

"Let's say Atlantis is real, and that Plato was telling the truth and that he knows the location of the city or at least where it was? He could've told his Nephew of the place in more detail than he did in Critreas, which is the only historical document that mentions such a place,"

The whole room fell silent. Ben went on, "Could've left clues to where it was hoping his nephew would search for the city it. Speusippus could've not been interested, thinking that his uncle was just pulling his leg or he could've set it aside for another time. But eight years after becoming the head of the academe he had a stroke after which he was unable to travel so he simply gave it to his son, and it became another family heirloom"

Abigail, Riley, and Thomas exchanged glances.

"That would make sense," Riley said slowly, "But why didn't any of Speusippus' descendants search for it?"

"You would think one of them would be inspired to go look for it." Thomas finished for him.

"After Plato died, Speusippus strayed from many of his teachings. He could've easily made Plato out to be crazy to his family especially,"

"Well all of this speculation isn't going to prove anything," Abigail sighed, "How long until we get a definite translation?"

Ben plopped back in to his chair, "It shouldn't take longer than 24 hours."

"Good."

Ben, Abigail, and Riley then went on to discuss different theories and Tom would've eagerly joined in but Abigail turned to him, "It's time for you to get to bed, Tom."

"Come on, Dad might be on the verge of another great discovery and you are making me go to bed?!"

"Well, I think this one is going to move a bit slower than the last thre—two. You'll have plenty more of this later. Remember, you have work tomorrow."

"Mom…"

"Fine, I will check with Dr. Locke to see if you can at least get off early. The rest of the translation will probably not be here until the afternoon anyways. And absolutely no mentioning this to anyone else," she finished sternly.

"Duh. Call me if you hear anything. I don't care what Museum policies say about employees and their cell phones while working; I'm carrying it with me all day tomorrow," he said as he left. Thomas ran to the family room where credits of the movie were rolling and Charlotte lay half asleep.

"Charlotte! Dad is on the verge of finding Atlantis!" he screamed, knowing that the no telling policy obviously didn't include her.

"Wait. Slow down. What did you just say?" Charlotte asked, afraid that she had heard correctly.

"Dad thinks that one of his associates found evidence that Atlantis exists!"

Charlotte groaned, "Isn't finding two treasures that change history enough for one man?"

"Come on, I thought even you would be excited. This is going to be an adventure!"

"The adventure part will excite me if we get that far. It's being the one that's clueless when we are talking about history, and the publicity afterwards that is enough to snuff that out," she paused, then added, "Wait, will it involve scuba diving?"

He shrugged, "I assume so, unless Atlantis is the Bermuda Triangle."

"Then I'm in…do I want to know why Dad suspects that there is evidence of Atlantis?"

"Unless you don't want to know what the rest of the family is talking about for who knows how long, I suggest so."

"Ok, shoot, but please in a language I can understand."

So Tom enthusiastically told her about what their dad had found as they walked to their conjoined bedrooms. Twenty minutes later they bid each other goodnight, although neither of them fell asleep until long after that.


	3. Chapter 3

Here's the next chapter. More coming very soon!

Disclaimer; I don't own any of these characters...no matter how much I wish I did!

--

Charlotte walked into the kitchen that was abuzz with a lot of activity for being early in the morning. Patrick and Emily were busy pouring over the laptop on the breakfast table.  
"Hi Lotte!" Her grandmother called, not looking away from the screen.  
"Hi," Charlotte mumbled, plopping into a chair and leaning over to pour herself a bowl of cereal. She glanced at the box and groaned, "I thought we were almost out of these."  
Emily glanced up, "Oh, those? You were, except we brought over a few more."  
Charlotte set down the box of "Treasure Chest Crunch" with her father's face plastered across it. Not only did it have a corny name, it became more and more unappetizing every time she took a bite of "Tasty Cibola Treasure!"

"I wonder how the kid who won the lifetime supply is faring," She plunged a spoon in to the bowl, "Where's Tom?"  
"At work, he left early." Patrick still hadn't removed his gaze from the computer screen.  
"Oh…" a groan from the other room interrupted their conversation.  
Riley appeared in a borrowed pair of pajama pants, his hair standing out in all directions.  
"This treasure hunting does nothing for my beauty sleep," he grumbled, sighing as he plopped in to a chair next to Charlotte. He groaned again when he saw what  
she is eating. "Those? Are you serious? A multi-billionaire can't afford to have anything better than his own cereal for breakfast?"  
"You try reasoning with him," Charlotte said in between bites, "Tom and I have both tried to convince him to hire a cook. "  
Riley reached for the half full box, "Aren't you the one obsessed with the Food Network? Why don't you try making something?"  
"It's 8:00 a.m.; I don't cook anything before noon. I'll only make exceptions on your birthday."  
"But that's not for another seven months!"  
"You're keeping track?"  
"Hey, I like my birthday. Give a guy a break."  
"Oh, that's right. You like your birthdays because now you have a girlfriend to

share it with. How is Jackie by the way?"  
"You know she likes to be called Jack…"  
"Oh, fine…Jack."  
"She's doing well, on a business trip in New York actually."  
"I see."  
The noisy conversation continued for some minutes, giving Charlotte the beginnings of a headache. She heard the sound of the side door being opened and a few seconds later Director Sadusky entered carrying coffee.  
"Good morning…" He said looking around at all of the people that were there. "It seems I don't have enough coffee," he set the carrier on the table. He handed Charlotte and Riley their triple white chocolate mochas, and Abigail and Ben their usual complicated drinks.  
"I can never get used the fancy stuff anyway," Patrick mumbled.  
"So what are we all here for anyhow? We are only missing Jack, Tom, and David,"  
Ben started to smile, Sadusky was always joking about him finding Atlantis, "We just think we are on the verge of finding something that's all,"  
"And that would be…? Is this going toinvolve kidnapping anyone?"  
Charlotte couldn't hold it in, wanting to see the look on his face, "Atlantis, Sadusky, no joke,"  
Sadusky blinked several times in disbelief. The entire room fell silent.

"So how many laws are going to be required to break to find this one?" he finally asked.  
"Hopefully a lot to make this exciting," Charlotte blurted out. Everyone turned to look at her with shocked faces.  
"What?" She asked, a sly grin on her face. She stood, "I have to go to work. See ya'll later,"  
"Do you want us to call or text you when we get the results?" Abigail called.  
"You will no matter what!" She called from the hallway.

It wasn't until three o'clock that afternoon that her phone rang. Charlotte looked up from a museum display and set down the duster she was using to pull it out of her pocket. 'Results are back. Meet us at the airport. Call when you get there.' The text read.  
The airport? She frowned slightly, then quickly wrote back, 'Ok. See you soon' before slipping the cell back in to her pocket and kneeling to put the case back in order.  
"I saw that," Dr. Locke suddenly appeared behind her with a trace of amusement in his eyes. Charlotte flinched at the sound of his voice and turned to face him, "I…"  
He held up a hand, "I know. I know. The whole 'no phone' policy doesn't apply to you, just like it doesn't apply to the countless other workers here.  
"Please, Dr. Locke…I don't think you understand."  
"What's there to understand? Rules are rules."  
Charlotte took a deep breath, "My family is heading out on an emergency flight. I

need the rest of the day off."  
"Is that what this is about?"  
"Yes," her answer sounded half pleading, "Come on, Dr. Locke. Have I ever used my phone during work hours other than this one time? You have to believe me."  
Dr. Locke's unreadable eyes blinked at her for a few moments, "Alright, I believe you. You're free to go."  
"Thank you!" she debated hugging him, but decided against it and quickly rose to her feet instead. She brushed the dust off of her jeans and museum staff shirt, grabbed the duster, and hurried away without another word. Dr. Locke smiled as he watched her leave. If it weren't for the great pay and her brother consistently dragging her here, she probably wouldn't even be working for him. After all, she claimed history was not, nor ever would be her cup of tea. Unfortunately it was him who suffered the results of that. They were short on visitor guides and she would be a great addition to the team. He hoped some day she would realize how fortunate she was to have such brilliant parents, and maybe put her historic upbringing to good use. A chuckle behind him interrupted his thoughts. Dr. Locke turned to face a man roughly his own age, with graying wavy hair  
and a tanned complexion.

"Teenagers," he smiled. His voice carried a light British accent.  
"Yes," Dr. Locke sighed, "They can be a handful at times. But Lotte's a different story."  
"She must be. She said something about an 'emergency flight' and you let her go without another word."  
Dr. Locke grinned, "Her parents are renowned treasure hunters. They travel often and usually take the kids with them. This isn't the first time she's asked me for the day off."  
"Treasure hunters?" the man's brow rose slightly.  
"Yes. Benjamin and Abigail Gates…they both found the Knights Templar and Cibola treasures. We have two exhibits on their finds set up in the east wing."  
"Interesting. I'll have to check them out. I happen to be a bit of a treasure hunter myself."  
"Oh really?" Dr. Locke seemed surprised.  
"Yes," the man casually stuck a hand in his pocket,  
"I haven't had much success but I enjoy it."  
"Well that's the main thing, right?" the museum curator chuckled.  
"Right," the man turned to leave, but Dr. Locke stopped him.  
"I'm sorry," he said, "I don't believe I caught your name."  
The man hesitated, "Ian," he said, "Ian Howe."  
Dr. Locke's brow furrowed for a moment, but then he smiled and shook the man's hand warmly, "It was nice meeting you, Mr. Howe."  
"And you, Dr….Locke," he said after glancing at the curator's name plate, "Maybe I'll run in to you again sometime."  
The doctor nodded, "Have a nice day."  
"You too."  
They parted without another word.

"Where are they?" Ben tapped his watch impatiently from where he sat in the middle of the airport. It was three forty-five; their flight boarded in another ten minutes.  
"They'll be here," Emily said next to him, although the tone in her voice betrayed her.  
Ben and Abigail exchanged frustrated looks and then sighed. Patrick began to pace.  
A few seconds later, Riley looked up from his cell phone a few seats down, "They just texted me back. They're leaving the white house now."  
"The White House?" Sadusky looked up from his paper in shock.  
"Cat," all five of them replied at once.  
Abigail immediately grabbed her phone and began dialing her daughter's number. Charlotte picked up after the third ring.  
"Hello?"  
"Charlotte Mary Gates! Where are you two?"  
"We're leaving Cat's."  
A long pause, "Why?"  
"Tom's car wouldn't start. We had to walk over there so we could hitch a ride."  
"This is D.C. dear. There are things called taxis."  
Her mother was beyond impatient.  
"We have no money. Tom forgot his wallet."  
"And you couldn't get a ride from someone else at the museum?"  
Charlotte sighed, "No. I'm sorry Mom, we're trying to get there as fast as we can."  
"You have ten minutes."  
"We'll be there."  
"Okay."  
They both hung up. Five other pairs of eyes looked to Abigail expectantly.  
"Tom's car broke down. They're on their way over now."  
Sadusky chuckled, "You know, not many people can boast hitch hiking from the White House."  
Only Riley laughed. The rest waited in silence.  
"How far is it from here to the Whitehouse?" Patrick asked after five minutes had passed.  
"Depending on traffic, it could take fifteen minutes," Ben calculated.  
"We don't have fifteen minutes!" His father groaned.  
Emily started to say something; then stopped and pointed, "There they are!"  
Tom and Charlotte came running towards them, still dressed in their museum uniforms. They reached the group just as a voice sounded over the airport speakers, 'Flight 318 to Cairo boarding."  
"Cairo?" Tom asked right away.  
"We're headed to Thebes but we couldn't get a direct flight," his father explained, "Let's go everybody."  
"What about the document? Do you have the full translation?" Charlotte asked, breathless. They all began moving towards the security checkpoint.  
"Yes. We'll explain on the flight." Ben replied. They made it through security and on to the flight just in time. The plane took off just minutes after they were seated. They didn't breathe out sighs of relief until the aircraft leveled a while later. After things had quieted down, Charlotte and Tom turned expectantly to Riley next to them. Their parents, along with Sadusky sat across from them a few rows up. Patrick and Emily had seats further  
behind them.  
"So…" Tom began slowly.  
Riley gave them an annoyed look as he took off his headphones, "Do you mind?"  
Charlotte tore the ear buds from his grasp, "Riley. The translation."  
"Oh, right," he cleared his throat, "Let's see. You're dad can probably explain things much better than me, but I do happen to…"  
They gave him exasperated looks.  
"Okay. Okay," he smiled mischievously, "We didn't get the full results. There were one or two words that couldn't be identified because they were so faded,"  
Riley reached for his carry-on and took out a blue folder. He flipped it open and handed Tom a sheet of paper, "But this is the gist of it."  
Charlotte leaned over to see the file but Tom pushed her head out of the way, "I'll read it out loud."  
Charlotte glanced at the various passengers around them,  
"Okay. But keep your voice down."

Tom nodded and began reading.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer; I don't own any of these characters...no matter how much I wish I did!

--

Tom's voice echoed softly above the drone of the plane as he spoke.

Speusippus,

You once asked me about Atlantis and I told you that I'd tell you all in good time. This time is going to be after I am dead, as I will be by the time you hold this letter in your hands. It pains me to talk about it, even now, but you must know. Yes Atlantis did exist, and I was there. It all began when I set out to see the world: venturing to Cairo and in to Saudi Arabia, until one day the small boat I was on ran into a great storm. Nothing else I remember except waking up without my crew on a large island. There I stayed for over a year, learning many things from a great civilization, including how to love. It was a marvelous experience of indescribable magnitute. I think back to it now as if recalling a dream...a very, very sweet dream from which one never wants to wake. But as in all dreams, there came a time when I had to wake. Why I had to leave they would not say. Maybe it had to do with the notion of an outsider marrying in to their highly secluded culture. However, it matters not now, since I shall never find out.

I boarded a small ship a and had barely left the shore when I heard screams behind me. I looked back to see the island sinking beneath the waves, along with its people, its wealth, and its heritage. The horrific scene will be forever embedded in my memory, much to my dismay. I know not how the island came to its sudden ruin, but I did know that there was no way I could ever return.

I kept silent about the whole ordeal for years on end. Eventually, though, I realized that the secrets of Atlantis could not be lost forever. The treasure housed there was far beyond human comprehension. And with it came enormous power…power even to rule over the world itself. It is for this very reason I am thankful that it cannot be recovered, for if it were to fall in to the wrong hands, it would be the death of us all.

But perhaps some day, after I am gone, there will be a way, and that is why the location of Atlantis should never be lost. You, and you only do I trust to keep it alive and in safe hands. As previously mentioned, the consequences will be fatal if you allow it to do otherwise. To further prevent this from happening, I am giving you a code to decipher that will reveal the location of Atlantis. The key to the code is in the library at the Academe, one created by me. Use this code to only communicate the most sensitive information. I hope my nephew that you will use this knowledge to the good of man and the gods.

Plato

Charlotte and Thomas both leaned back in their seats in stunned silence. Riley looked at them with eyebrows raised in an empathetic grin.

"Pretty awesome isn't it?"

Charlotte opened her mouth to respond, but no words came out. All three looked to one another and then glanced around at the other passengers. The two businessmen behind them hardly seemed to notice anybody else, and the archeologist crew in the seats ahead of them were too busy pouring over a dig they thought was far more important than everything else around them. It made Charlotte want to laugh. If only they knew what was taking place three feet behind them.

"So..." Tom said quietly, finally breaking the silence, "We're going to Thebes why?"

"To talk to Elliot. Ben thought he might have more information to talk about face to face like the location of the code. I will say one thing though, this one appears easier to find than the other two. I mean it just involves finding a code,"

"That's what I don't get. Wasn't it supposed to have something to do with a clue?" Tom asked.

"It was actually 'code', the people doing the immediate translation of a few words miss read it," He scoffed, "_I _could've done a better job than that,"

"Mm hm, what ever you say Riley," Lotte muttered staring at the short code written on the bottom. The letters were like nothing she had ever seen, it was like a mix of Russian, Arabic, and Greek, with a tiny bit of Elvish.

"Careful Lotte you might actually get excited," Tom said with a grin.

"Come on, we are flying around the world looking for Atlantis. I am not that much of a party-pooper that I am going to complain now...just when we are sitting in some stuffy library looking over old documents that don't make any sense to me,"

"We'll go find someplace to eat," Riley muttered, eyes half closed.

"Works for me,"

"That's fine we'll just make sure you guys get less of the finder's fee,"

"Hey, Ben said that I could decide the finders fee since the last one went to the Native Americans!" Riley protested.

"Well then you had better participate!" Tom said, his volume rising a tad.

"Why am I even arguing with you?" Riley asked aloud as he leaned back in his seat, "I am a lot older than you are."

"You are?" Charlotte couldn't resist, "Oh, yeah…I almost forgot. It's just…"

Riley gave her a stern look. She smiled ruefully, "Never mind. We won't go there."

Riley blinked and nodded, "Yeah…" He motioned to a flight attendant brushing past and ordered himself a bag of peanuts, not offering to share with the others.

Lotte huffed and sank further in to her seat, grabbing Riley's headphones while she was at it. Tom rolled his eyes and checked his watch. It was 4:30. Plenty of time for a nap.

"Elliot," Ben approached the sun-burned figure that appeared to be waiting for them at the bottom of the escalators. A very tired group hustled after him, toting heavy suitcases that made them want to collapse with each step. They had arrived in Cairo in good time before transferring flights and landing in Athens, where they now stood. In all the entire trip had taken a full day.

"We weren't expecting you. Why aren't you in Thebes?" Ben asked, shaking the man's hand in greeting.

The graying Brit smiled, "I thought I'd come to meet you in person instead." He nodded to Abigail and the kids, "Good to see you all again."

Tom and Charlotte nodded their agreement, although neither of them remembered ever meeting this striking archeologist.

"It's been quite some time," he continued, as if in answer to their thoughts, "I believe you were both in diapers the last time we met."

This remark got a chuckle out of Riley, who pretended to cough it away when no one else laughed.

"And this must be Riley…Ben's assistant" Elliot said, turning to the bemused man.

Riley put on a fake smile and offered a hand, "Actually I'm one of the co-finders of both treasures," he explained.

Elliot's brow furrowed, "Oh," he said dryly, "And who are all these people?" he asked, waving towards Patrick, Emily, and Sadusky.

"Peter Sadusky," the director stepped forward, "There's a long-time joke between me and Ben about finding Atlantis. Who knew we'd actually be working together to find it one day?"

Elliot laughed and Ben introduced both of his parents.

"Pleased to meet you all," the archeologist said warmly, "I know that you're all very tired, so I'll let you head over to the hotel to regroup before stopping by my office. It's at the National Archeological Museum now, and the letter everything we need should be there."

"Actually," Ben spoke up, "If you don't mind, maybe we could take a look at it now...I mean, if that's alright with you."

Elliot nodded, "Very well, then, the taxis are outside. Follow me."

With that said, they all piled in to the cars waiting for them and headed over to the museum. Not long after that, Elliot was leading them through winding corridors and exhibitions halls until they arrived at his office. The room was similar to Ben's office at home; spacious and elegant with a double doored entry, although his showed evidence of a man whose first passion was Greek history not American. In font of his desk there was a large table where the letter lay in its case. There were also pictures of the site that the page had come from, as well as stacks of books on Plato, the Academe, and Speusippus.

Tom immediately started for the table, but Abigail grabbed his shirt. "Allow your father to look first," she whispered.

His face sank slightly before nodding.

Ben approached the case somewhat timidly. He had never in all his years dealt with an artifact this old. The writing was faded, the paper fragile. It was thin papyrus, creased and slightly stained. He couldn't read it, of course, but he knew what it said. And at the bottom was the code. He leaned in to examine it more closely. Strangely enough, the symbols of the code were the clearest and boldest of all. Their lettering was faded, yes, but not nearly as much as the majority of the text. It was as if the entire document pointed to that long line of symbols.

"Incredible," Ben said, breathing heavily, "Abigail, Mom, come take a look."

Abigail and Emily took a few eager steps toward the casing. They bent over to examine it closer.

"So well preserved…" Abigail muttered, lightly touching the top of the glass, "Just how old is it?"

"We're estimating roughly 2,300 years old," Elliot replied, "It was in a large urn that we found buried seven feet underground next to the ruins of some sort of structure…possibly a house."

"Where in Thebes, exactly?" Patrick asked.

Elliot circled around his desk and pulled a map out of one of the drawers. He held it up and tapped a section of it on the bottom right hand corner, "Here. We've been excavating artifacts there for several months since few archeologists have ventured that far out."

"Is there any record of Speusippus…however you say his name…living in Thebes?" Riley asked, coming closer.

Elliot handed him one of the books, "That is precisely what we're trying to find out next."

Charlotte pushed her way through the cluster of people that had gathered around the letter and peered at it closely. As was the case with her father, in all her experiences traveling abroad and visiting various museums she couldn't recall ever seeing something this old.

"So did Speusippus not care much about Atlantis? Wouldn't he have gone to greater lengths to preserve the document rather than just throwing it in an old urn?" she asked.

All eyes turned upon her.

"Somebody get a pen!" Thomas cried, "This is a day to record in history!"

Riley smiled, "Imagine…our little Lotte finally taking part in a historic conversation. Wow."

"Very funny guys," she said sarcastically, "But seriously. Wouldn't Speusippus have done something more with such a valuable letter to make sure it didn't drop off the face of the earth?"

"Well," Ben began slowly, "Speusippus later strayed from Plato's teachings. He inherited the Academe, yes, but perhaps he didn't pursue the code. Maybe he decided that Plato's letter was worth keeping, just in case, but not important enough to spend his time on."

"What isn't important about Atlantis?" Tom cried.

Sadusky stuck a hand in his pocket, "Maybe we need to stop and consider whether or not Speusippus believed Plato in the first place. He could have easily dismissed the letter as a myth or legend, despite the fact that Plato did go on to write those commentaries that he claimed were true."

Abigail agreed, "You're right. We can't forget those dialogues, the Timaeus and Critias. Perhaps Plato knew Speusippus might not take him seriously and therefore told the story in those commentaries."

Everyone nodded slowly.

"Exactly," Ben added, "Both theories could be true. Perhaps Speusippus didn't believe Plato, but kept the letter just in case, and passed it on to any descendants he had. Perhaps they, too, kept it without ever pursuing the code, simply because Speusippus told them it may have had some value."

"That would make sense," Elliot agreed.

"At any rate, we need to figure out why it was in Thebes," Abigail summed up.

"Correct," Ben nodded, "Let's get to work, then."

Everyone started to grab different books that looked promising. Beside the books stacked on the table there were a couple shelves with more books on different things in Ancient Greece. Riley got his laptop set up and began browsing the internet in one corner. Tom jumped on Elliot's PC. Even Charlotte eagerly took up a book. The room fell silent, interrupted only by the sound of a page turning or the click of a mouse.

Sadusky attempted to look at the books as well but could barely comprehend what it was he was reading. He was more into conspiracies anyways; history had only been his forte to some extent. Instead he took out his Blackberry, and thanks to the fact that he was FBI there was no extra charge for using it out of country.

He checked his email and wasn't surprised to see there was one from Agent Hendricks, who was in charge during his absence and would assume full command again in a couple of months when Sadusky retired. He opened it. What the message said sent a chill up his spine: I. Howe has broken his parole, keep an eye out.


	5. Chapter 5

Here's the next chapter...sorry it took so long!

Disclaimer: See previous chapters. (You might as well read them while you're at it.)

Ian Howe stomped in to his house, stirring up dust in the shafts of sunlight that streamed through his front door. Two others followed him silently and stopped as he surveyed his, neglected home.

"Home sweet home," he mumbled dryly, turning to face them.

"Good to see that you're a little bit neater when staying elsewhere," one of his companions, a younger female, replied.

He shot her a retorting glare, but said nothing else. His other friend snorted.

"Shut up, Shippen."

"Yes, sir," the Scot let go.

Ian took a few steps forward and knelt to pick up a huge pile of junk mail that had fallen to the floor through the mail slot. He shifted through its contents blankly before letting them drift back to their spots. Rising, he turned and walked down a narrow hallway that led in to the back of the house, eventually ending up in the kitchen. He flicked a light switch and casually went over and opened the refrigerator.

"Is there something significant going on that we're not aware of?" the woman asked, irritated by his nonchalant behavior.

"We've got to get moving," Ian said, ignoring her comment.

"Yes…." She said, her voice slightly on edge.

Ian drilled her with his icy blue eyes, "A little impatient, are we, Shay?"

"Not at all," she replied with a smug grin, "Are we through here?"

"I'm going to make a quick run upstairs to get a few things. You can wait out in the car."

She checked her watch, nodded, and headed back down the hall, Shippen on her heels.

Ian approached the pantry door to his right. It let out a high pitched squeal as it swung open and he entered the cramped closet. He pushed aside boxes of stale goods and reached for a small unit adhered to the wall. He felt for a small panel and slid it upwards and blinked as the tiny room was lit up in a green glow. He pushed in a four number pass code and waited with bated breath as two beeps confirmed the transaction and a small door opened on the vacant wall to his left.

"Gotcha," he murmured, sliding through.

His old "lair" smelled mustier than usual, but as untouched as ever. He'd done his best to clean it out should the police discover it while he was staying at Shay's house during the first part of his second parole; with a few exceptions.

He pressed a section on one of the empty walls. It slid open to reveal a variety of guns, he choose several more compact guns that were easy to slip through security, and placed them in a black bag. He grabbed the small pistol in the center, his hand molded to it, like an old friend. A small smile played across his lips, a time he had awaited for was at hand. After putting the gun in the familiar place at his side, he grabbed a few more technological tools from the opposite wall and exited the small room.

Shay and Shippen waited in the car, all expressions wiped from their faces.

"Took you long enough…" Shay mumbled.

Ian once again ignored the comment. He tugged on one of the rear doors of the black BMW, threw the guns inside, and then slid in to the backseat. Shippen revved up the engine as soon as he closed the door and they pulled away. As they zoomed through the streets of Baltimore, Ian was busy hooking up his laptop and hacking in to airport passenger databases. Shay sat bemused in the front seat, checking her voicemails.

"Phil's back in jail," she said absentmindedly as the car merged in to another lane.

Shippen shook his head blankly; Ian didn't even look up.

"What's he done this time?" he asked, still typing away.

"He forged a bunch of letters and somehow got caught. Imagine that!" she added sarcastically.

Ian ceased typing and stared at the computer screen, the light basking his face in a white glow.

"Found them," he said presently.

"Where?" Shay asked, turning in her seat to face him.

"Athens. They went to Athens."

"Looks like we'll be going there, too, then, I take it."

Ian nodded and disconnected his hacking devices, "That we are,"

"Wait a second," Abigail muttered. She was paging through a book of artifacts of Greece, though she figured Elliot would have known if something with the code on it was in his own museum, but then again this museum was extensive.

"Elliot this is in your museum, correct?" She asked bringing the large musty book to him.

He looked at the picture that she was pointing at, "I don't recall it in any of our current exhibits but it is probably in storage unless we sold it to another museum, which is unlikely. Why do you ask?"

She pointed to the bottom of the vase in the picture. "Isn't that the code we are looking for?"

He examined the image closely, picked it up and wordlessly crossed the room to where his copy of the code lay. After a few more long moments, he breathed, "We've found it."

"The key?" Emily burst out.

"No," Elliot replied, looking up from his work, "We found another link…this here looks like the same code, imprinted in a vase from the same time period. I forgot all about this…" his sentence trailed off.

Tom and Charlotte gathered at his side for a closer view, Ben followed suit.

"I'll have to go through museum records and try to locate this," Elliot continued, "It shouldn't take too long, the system has been improved over the recent years so that we can easily track the whereabouts of our artifacts. I'll be back soon."

He left quickly without another word.

"Sooo…" Riley said, breaking the silence in the room that followed the professor's exit, "We find this vase and then what?"

"We decode it," Ben said simply, not looking up from the photo and the document beside it.

"It's never that easy," Riley replied sarcastically, "It never is. We'll hit a dead end or some smudge will appear, or Ian will show up."

Sadusky had grown quiet until now. He moved forward, "Actually…" he began, suppressing a cough, "That might be a possibility."

All eyes turned to him.

"He's broken parole," Sadusky admitted, "We lost him."

Ben cringed. He and Abigail exchanged knowing glances. Riley hit his head on the wall.

"How long would it take him to find us?" Ben asked after a pause.

"He's probably on a plane by now," Sadusky predicted, "If he had all the right tools or resources, he could hack through plane records and flight patterns in no time at all."

"That would be if he was out for revenge," Abigail said.

"Why wouldn't he be? You put him in jail the second time and I did the first time." Ben speculated.

"What exactly happened the second time?" Charlotte asked.

"It's a long story and we don't have that kind of time," Sadusky answered as Elliot returned.

"I hope none of you are wearing clothes that you don't want to get dirty because we are going to sub-level three. "


End file.
